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Acute appendicitis remains one of the abdominal diseases most commonly requiring emergency treatment. Successful nonsurgical management of appendicitis has raised the possibility of treating this condition with antibiotics alone. The author of this Viewpoint article examines the available evidence for this therapeutic approach and discusses its role in clinical practice.
Most patients with hepatocellular carcinoma have underlying liver disease and the optimal treatment is, therefore, liver transplantation. When liver transplantation is not possible clinicians must decide whether to resect or ablate the cancer. The author of this Viewpoint article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of these two approaches and their use in clinical practice.
This Review discusses the most common causes of chronic cough, the clinical features of GER-related cough and the usefulness of an empiric therapy trial to identify and treat these patients. The authors also consider how to proceed when patients do not improve with an empiric therapy trial. Clinical outcomes, long-term GER therapy and potential pitfalls of the treatment of GER-related cough are also covered.
Twenty years ago, hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) was an absolute contraindication to orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). HPS patients are now included on the waiting list for OLT because of reports that indicated survival after OLT in patients with hypoxemia had improved, the discovery that HPS can resolve after OLT, and the lack of other effective treatments. This Review provides an overview of information pertinent to the diagnosis of HPS and its management in OLT candidates.
The authors of this Review provide an overview of the mechanisms by which HCV is currently understood and postulated to govern liver injury. These mechanisms include the regulation of apoptosis, steatosis, activation of hepatic stellate cells, and the cytotoxic lymphocyte response.
This Case Study describes a 24-year-old white male with Crohn's disease that was in remission who presented with cholestasis and hyperbilirubinemia. The patient had normal alanine aminotrasferase and γ-globulin levels, and the results of serological tests for an infectious cause of hepatopathia were negative. The patient was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis–primary sclerosing cholangitis overlap syndrome on the background of primary sclerosing cholangitis.
